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Lubna Hanash, a young Palestinian woman, was shot and killed today by Israeli occupation forces riding in a civilian car near Arroub refugee camp which is on the road between Bethlehem and Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.

Hanash was a fourth-year political science student at Al-Quds University, according to Al-Quds newspaper, and had been visiting her sister in Arroub camp.

Reuters reported:

Witnesses said Lubna Hanash and her companions were walking to al-Arroub College when men in Israeli military uniforms travelling in a civilian car shot at the group.

Maan news agency, which gave Hanash’s age as 22, said:

Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers traveling in a civilian car opened fire at a group of people at the entrance to al-Arrub refugee camp south of Bethlehem.
Lubna Munir Hanash, 22, was shot in the head and died from her injuries, medics said.

Suad Yusuf Jaara was shot in the hand and transported to Ahli hospital in Hebron.

Witnesses told Ma’an that after the shooting Israeli soldiers prevented an ambulance from arriving at the scene for around 10 minutes.

Locals said there were no clashes in the area at the time.

Carrying Lubna Hanash’s body during her funeral in Bethlehem. Photo by Demotix

However, local sources reported that clashes broke out between Israeli occupation forces and youths near Arroub refugee camp following the passage of Lubna’s body.

The video above [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=euOsyJVzeiU] shows raw footage from al-Ahli hospital in Hebron including shots of [a woman] on a stretcher with a heavily bandaged head who may be Hanash, another woman in pain, with a bandaged arm on a stretcher, who may be her companion, and a distressed male relative lamenting Hanash’s passing and exclaiming against Palestinian Authority leaders. Another cell phone video shows Hanash’s father losing consciousness after learning of his daughter’s death.

Israeli occupation forces claimed according to Ma’an that “soldiers were attacked by Palestinians who hurled multiple firebombs at them while they were traveling near al-Arrub. Soldiers returned fire and the circumstances of the incident are currently being reviewed.”

However such Israeli claims are routinely made to justify arbitrary killings of Palestinians and almost never result in credible investigations.

Escalation in killings by occupation forces

In December, Muhammad al-Salaymeh, a Hebron teen, was shot dead on his 17th birthday in unexplained circumstances. Claims by the Israeli soldier who shot him that Muhammad had brandished a weapon and taken another soldier hostage, were proven false by video of the incident.

Earlier on Wednesday, a Palestinian child, 15-year-old Salih al-Amarin, died of gunshot wounds inflicted by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem last week.

Ma’an added that last Tuesday, “17-year-old Samir Ahmad Abdul-Rahim was the fourth Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces in less than a week.”

Six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces this month.

HEBRON – “I saw an Israeli soldier on the main road firing gunshots haphazardly, so I put my left hand on Lubna’s back, and grabbed her to try and run backward. A gunshot hit my hand, and I shouted as I ran.

“I thought Lubna was running behind me until I reached the security guards of Al-Arrub College who took me to a clinic in the camp before an ambulance arrived and took me to hospital.”

This, says Suad Jaara, 28, is what she witnessed Wednesday afternoon when Israeli officers near al-Arrub refugee camp shot her and her friend Lubna al-Hanash. Lubna, 22, died hours later.

Speaking to Ma’an, Jaara said Thursday that she and Lubna were walking on the campus of Al-Arrub College about 100 meters from the main road when they came under fire.

“An Israeli soldier was shooting from his rifle while a white car was parked on the roadside. There was nobody in the area except Lubna and me. He was a criminal … yes, a criminal who opened fired at us in cold blood killing Lubna and injuring me.”

Jaara’s testimony contradicts claims by the Israeli army’s chief of central command on Channel 10 Wednesday evening that the woman was trying to hurl a Molotov cocktail at an Israeli vehicle.

An army spokeswoman also told Ma’an on Wednesday that “soldiers were attacked by Palestinians who hurled multiple firebombs at them while they were traveling near al-Arrub. Soldiers returned fire and the circumstances of the incident are currently being reviewed.”

But Jaara says she and her late friend were the only ones in the area, walking around and enjoying the scenery.

“Lubna arrived two days ago to visit her sister, who is married to my brother. She had heard about Al-Arrub College and she wanted to visit it. I accompanied her to campus and she admired the area because it’s in a charming natural landscape. When we decided to leave campus, a criminal fired at us and Lubna died a martyr.”

Jaara is an employee at the Ministry of Prisoners Affairs. Her brother Jihad was a gunman in Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades in the Bethlehem area. He was deported to Ireland after the Nativity Church siege in 2002.

On Wednesday evening, 23 January 2013, the Israeli forces killed a Palestinian woman and wounded another one in Hebron in the south of the West Bank.

According to investigations conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and eyewitnesses’ accounts, at approximately 14:00 on Wednesday, an Israeli car (white Toyota Corolla) was traveling near the main road known bypass road #60 close to al-Arroub Agricultural College in Hebron. Two Israeli soldiers in the military uniform were traveling in the car. A number of Palestinian boys who were in the area threw stones at the car, which immediately stopped near the sub-entrance of the College that has been closed for several years by the Israeli forces using an iron gate. One of the soldier stepped down from the car and indiscriminately opened fire from a machine gun at the branch road leading to the College. As a result, Lubna Moneer al-Hanash, 21, from Jabal al-Mawaleh village east of Bethlehem, was killed by a bullet to the head, and Su’ad Kahlil Ja’ara, 37, was wounded by a bullet to the left hand. Both women were on the branch road nearly 50 meters away from the abovementioned bypass road. The two women were evacuated to the National Hospital in Hebron. Soon after, the Israeli forces and police arrived at the scene and declared the area a closed military zone. A number of residents of al-Arroub refugee camp, which is nearly 200 meters away from the scene of the crime and clashed erupted between them and the Israeli forces, which fired tear gas canisters and sound bombs. A number of civilians suffered from tear gas inhalation.

PCHR expresses deep concern for this crime which reflects the continued use of excessive force by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians in disregard of their lives.

PCHR calls upon the international community to take immediate and effective actions to put an end to such crimes and reiterates its call for the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their obligations under Article 1, i.e. to respect and to ensure respect for the Convention in all circumstances, and their obligation under Article 146 to prosecute persons who allegedly committed grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention. These grave breaches constitute war crimes under Article 147 of the same Convention and Article 85 of Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions.